1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle differential and to a vehicle differential including a hydraulic pump with a variable-engagement clutch.
2. Description of the Related Art
Differentials are provided on vehicles to permit an outer drive wheel to rotate faster than an inner drive wheel during cornering as both drive wheels continue to receive power from the engine. While differentials are useful in cornering, they can allow vehicles to lose traction, for example, in snow or mud or other slick mediums. If either of the drive wheels loses traction, it will spin at a high rate of speed and the other wheel may not spin at all. To overcome this situation, limited-slip differentials were developed to shift power from the drive wheel that has lost traction and is spinning to the drive wheel that is not spinning.
Recently, an electronically-controlled, limited-slip differential has been introduced that includes a hydraulically-actuated clutch to limit differential rotation between output shafts of the differential. The hydraulically-actuated clutch is powered by a pump connected to a vehicle drive shaft. Most of the time, the vehicle has adequate traction negating the need to actuate the hydraulic clutch. However, provided the drive shaft is rotating, the pump is still operating and pumping fluid. In this arrangement, the differential requires one or more valves to distribute pressurized fluid to the hydraulically-actuated clutch when needed. The parasitic energy losses generated by the continually operating pump can negatively impact vehicle fuel economy and shorten the useful life of the hydraulic fluid. For at least these reasons, an improved differential is desired.